Mysterious Psychic Forces: An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants
John Stuart Mill · en
5. We heard behind the curtain the noise of a chair rolling over the
floor; by a first push it arrived as far as I was; a second push
turned it upside down, its feet in the air, in the position shown. It
was a heavy stuffed chair. Succeeding pushes moved it again, lifted it
up, and made it turn somersaults; it finally came to a standstill
almost in the place where it had fallen over.
[Illustration]
6. We heard the noise of two or three objects falling to the floor (I
mean objects behind the curtain upon the centre-table). The curtain
parted in the middle, and in the dim light the little violin appeared.
Sustained in the air by an invisible hand, it came gently forward
above our table, whence it settled down upon my hand and upon that of
my neighbor on the left.[25]
On two separate occasions the violin rose from the table and at once
fell back again, making a vigorous leap, like a fish flopping upon the
sand. Then it glided down to the floor, where it remained motionless
until the end of the sitting.
7. A new rolling noise was heard behind the curtain. This time it was
the centre-table. A preliminary effort, quite vigorous, enabled it to
rise half-way to the top of our table. By a second effort it got clear
on top and rested upon my fore-arm.
8. Several times I distinctly felt light blows upon my right side, as
if made with the point of a sharp instrument. But the truth compels me
to declare that these blows were no longer given after Eusapia's feet
were held under the table by M. Bloch. I note this correlation of
things without drawing from it any presumption against Eusapia's
loyalty. I have so much the less reason to suspect her in that her
left foot did not leave my right foot during the whole sitting.
Report of M. Victorien Sardou
(_Seance of November 19_)
(There were present at this seance, besides the hosts of the evening,
M. V. Sardou, M. and Mme. Brisson, M. A. de Rochas, M. Prof. Richet,
M. G. de Fontenay, M. Gaston Mery, Mme. Fourton, M. and Mlle. des
Varennes).
I shall only relate here phenomena controlled by myself personally in
the seance of last Saturday. Consequently, I say nothing of the
arrangement of the apartment, of the experimenters, nor of the events
which were first produced in the dark and which all the participants
were able to authenticate,--such as cracking sounds in the table,
levitations, displacements of the table, raps, etc., as well as the
blowing out of the curtain over the table, the bringing on of the
violin, of the tambourine, and so forth.